Ask the Car People.SM


Will Mercury soon be joining Plymouth and Oldsmobile? - READ ONLY

308 messages,  Last post on Feb 26, 2011 at 6:29 AM

You are in the Automotive News & Views-Archives Forum.

What is this discussion about? Mercury Milan, Mercury Montego, Mercury Mariner Hybrid

Messages Page 30 of 31

#289 of 308 Re: Guess I better hang onto this one... [andre1969] by lemko

Jun 01, 2010 (5:34 am)

Replying to: andre1969 (May 29, 2010 5:20 pm)
I think it has about 86,561 on it as of this morning. I will be taking it to the Ford Carlisle show this weekend for the heck of it. I cleaned it up really nice this past weekend.

#290 of 308 Re: Guess I better hang onto this one... [euphonium] by lemko

Jun 01, 2010 (5:36 am)

Replying to: euphonium (May 31, 2010 9:52 am)
That top wasn't my choice but that of my wife's Aunt Sylvie who is 85 years-old!

#291 of 308 Mercury loyalists by tomcatt630

Jun 01, 2010 (12:50 pm)

Some people claim 'I'll go elsewhere since I don't want to be seen in a Ford!'. But they forget that 90% of buyers don't care. The crosshop records show this.
 
Also, for every older buyer turned off by not getting the 'better' brand, there are much more buyers under 35 willing to buy new Fords. To them, Merc is 'my grandparent's old car'.
 
Here in Chicagoland, L-M dealers competed with Ford pushing Tracers, Topazes, and Sables claiming 'they are better than a Ford', even though made in same plant!! Now dealers are combining.
 
Anyone who thinks Ford "needs" Mercury is living in 1971.

#292 of 308 Re: Mercury loyalists [tomcatt630] by berri

Jun 01, 2010 (5:19 pm)

Replying to: tomcatt630 (Jun 01, 2010 12:50 pm)
Same goes for Lincoln really. They seem to just be gussied up Ford's as well with all too often over done styling that comes off somewhat unattractive. If there are any cost savings from dumping Mercury, Ford should put all that money into improving Lincoln. I don't understand why people pay another 10 grand for essentially the same car and drive train as a Ford?

#293 of 308 Re: Mercury loyalists [berri] by andre1969

Jun 01, 2010 (5:43 pm)

Replying to: berri (Jun 01, 2010 5:19 pm)
Same goes for Lincoln really. They seem to just be gussied up Ford's as well with all too often over done styling that comes off somewhat unattractive. If there are any cost savings from dumping Mercury, Ford should put all that money into improving Lincoln. I don't understand why people pay another 10 grand for essentially the same car and drive train as a Ford?
 
I think that's going to be a serious problem, especially with the Fords going upscale. For instance, that MK-whatever thing...the one that Volvo essentially tought them how to build...seemed like a nice car last year. When we still had that older 500/Montego-based Taurus and Sable. But the new Taurus is pretty impressive inside and out. It ain't just a generic, mass-market fleet car anymore. And, it's not particularly cheap.
 
Then, there's that other MK-whatever thing, the one that used to be called "Zephyr". Y'know, it would be an impressive car if there was no Fusion or Milan to compare it to. I think the interior is really sharp looking. It evokes memories of the classic early/mid-60's Continentals, while still being modern. And I even think the car looks good, with the exception of the taillights, which seem too over-sized for the car, and positioned poorly. But, for all the pleasantry, it's still just a tarted up Fusion. It's a 2010 Versailles!
 
Cadillac, at least, seems a bit more insulated than Lincoln, since GM has other divisions to spread the cheaper models across and that helps Cadillac to retain a bit of exlusivity. For instance, there is no other divisional equivalent to the CTS or STS (although the STS is a moot point, I guess). And while Buick does still carry the Lucerne, GM does, IMO at least, a pretty good job of differentiating it from the DTS.
 
Now, the pickup truck/SUV-based stuff, that's a different story. But truth be told, you can option up a Silverado or Sierra to obscene amounts of money, anyway. I think I heard somewhere that Chevrolet sells more $50K+ vehicles than any other brand in America!
 
However, it seems things are changing. The new SRX, IMO, is a step in the wrong direction. Sure, it's a hot seller right now, but at what ultimate cost? I mean hey, the Vega and Citation were hot sellers once upon a time. And the Cadillac Cimarron sold tolerably enough to last for most of the 80's.
 
And I think that new LaCrosse-based Cadillac thing is a step in the wrong direction, too. If it would be, say, a replacement for the STS and the older Seville, then yeah, go for it. But as a DTS replacement, I don't think it's worthy. To me, the DTS should compete with the likes of the Lexus LS, BMW 7-series, Audi A-8, Benz S-class, etc. Basing it on the LaCrosse, IMO, takes it down to the level of the ES350.

#294 of 308 the ump calls safe by steve_ HOST

Jun 02, 2010 (11:15 pm)

But it's still a no-hitter.
 
It's Official: Mercury Is an Ex-Brand (Edmunds Daily)
 

#295 of 308 Re: Ford Puts 70-Year-Old Mercury to Sleep! [andre1969] by lemko

Jun 03, 2010 (5:36 am)

Replying to: andre1969 (May 28, 2010 9:10 am)
I dunno. I'd say from about 1969-1978 a Mercury could be practically a Lincoln. I had a 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis LS which seemed to be a really nice car. I called it "the poor man's Town Car." I liked it a lot better than the 2005 model I now have which seems more like a Crown Victoria with a different grille and an extra piece of red plastic between the taillights.

#296 of 308 Re: the ump calls safe [steve_] by lemko

Jun 03, 2010 (5:39 am)

Replying to: steve_ (Jun 02, 2010 11:15 pm)
Mercury did have a pretty cool graphic-designy logo in it's last two decades. It looks better without the ". MERCURY . " above it.

#297 of 308 Re: Its about time [xrunner2] by gregg_vw

Jun 03, 2010 (1:16 pm)

Replying to: xrunner2 (May 28, 2010 8:09 am)
Ford can be like Honda and Toyota. Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus. Not sure why Toyota plugs along with Scion brand.
 
That would be true of course if Ford was more like Toyota and Honda. The Ford brand is still transforming itself and is now making inroads, but Lincoln is neither a Lexus or an Acura competitor. Lincoln sales suck. The MKS and MKT (newest Lincolns) have failed to energize the brand. As bad as Mercury sales were (and they were bad), they still outsold Lincoln.
 
Other companies have several divisions and do well. VW is on its way to being #1 in a few short years, and it has VW, Audi, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Bentley, SEAT, Skoda, and now Porsche. They are buying Suzuki and will probably purchase Proton (Malaysia). Not all their brands are going full guns, but it is a business model that is presently working for the parent company. GM is another example with four divisions that are able to increase sales--no mean feat after going bankrupt. GM already outsells Ford again, and has more new models coming than Ford does. Chrysler owners also market a plethora of brands.
 
So two brands work, and multiple brands under one umbrella can work. The key is to provide a good core brand, and differentiation and enough flair with near luxury and luxury models that they truly are aspirational. Lincoln isn't there yet. The MKS is not superior to the Taurus in power, amenities and certainly not in styling.
 
Meanwhile, Ford needs to step it up with Subaru, Kia and Hyundai barking at its heels. Efforts like the Transit Connect, Fiesta and 2012 Focus are terrific. The 2011 Mustang really has the motors now. The F150 will remain competitive, especially with Ecoboost, but the 2004 body shell with 2009 mods looks less cohesive than Ram or Silverado. The 2011 Fusion still uses the same body shell introduced in 2005. The 2011 Superduty still uses the same body shell introduced in 1999. The Expedition and Navigator still use the 1997 body shell with embellishments. The 2011 Mustang body shell is from 2005. The Ranger has not been significantly restyled since the fall of 1992. Ford still seems to think it is OK to change the front clip, tail lights and interior furnishings every 3-5 years and call the model "all new." I always do hope it works, but I also hope that when Ford returns to reasonable profitability, that it will routinely restyle its new models on the outside when it modifies them underneath and within.
 
RIP Mercury. You could have lived if anyone at Ford had cared to do more than cynical brand engineering when Ford was flush in the early 2000s. Thank goodness for Mulally. Now, let's see that Freestyle/Flex/MKT/2012 Explorer architecture-efforts turned into something that will burn up the sales charts.

#298 of 308 Which brand to axe? by propwash49

Jun 03, 2010 (7:26 pm)

I find it interesting that Ford chose to give Mercury (their middle-range brand) the axe, while Chrysler dumped Plymouth (their low-end marque.) If you compare FoMoCo brands to Mopar, you have Plymouth competing directly with Ford, Mercury against Dodge, and Chrysler against Lincoln. OK, maybe Chrysler vs. Lincoln is a little bit of a stretch, but you get my point. The only reason I can think that Chrysler dumped their bottom end brand is that the difference between Plymouth's sales and Dodge's was much smaller than the difference between Ford and Mercury. It seems to me that Dodge and Plymouth sales might have been pretty much even, where Ford outsells Mercury by a vast margin. With GM, I think that they dumped Pontiac, Olds and Saab purely due to low sales volume, plus they had such a huge overlap with seven passenger car lines and GMC, Chevy and Hummer trucks. Who knows, they might eventually decide to get rid of either GMC or Chevy trucks as well.

Messages Page 30 of 31

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement